Housing code changed by council after vigorous debate

TEMECULA  The Temecula City Council was caught between a rock and a hard place this week

The rock is the state of California, which has asked the city to make changes to its zoning laws to cover a broader range of housing options for "all income levels."

This means, according to city officials, adding language in the city's housing code that covers the construction of efficiency units, micro-apartments ranging from 250 to 400 square feet, and supportive housing facilities, places that serve the homeless and people released from prison who had been homeless.

The changes also include expanding the areas where transitional housing facilities can be constructed to commercial zones and adding new rules that govern the location of and operation of residential care facilities.

The city agreed to make these changes to its code three years ago during negotiations with the state's Department of Housing and Community Development, the agency that regulates cities to make sure they are providing housing opportunities for all segments of the populace.

In mid-March, the council was presented with the first draft of the proposed slate of changes, but held off on making any decision after hearing from a group of residents, the aforementioned "hard place," who bristle at the state's mandates.

Members of the group — which includes Tom and Kathy Vining, Bret Kelley, Carol Monroe, George Rombach and Ernie White — say they are trying to defend suburban Temecula from the crime and blight of big cities such as Los Angeles, which has grappled with how to regulate group homes that house people released from prison and sober living facilities.

"The prisoners released from prison bring with them infectious diseases," Monroe said. "These conditions are resistant to drugs and will soon be spread throughout Temecula. Let's stop dancing around it and saying that the housing will be for low-income seniors and those people with disabilities. We all know that's not true."

Monroe then pointed at members of the council and said, "Your job is to protect this city."

Other members of the group also took to the podium, asking the council to delay making a decision and host a town hall meeting to give the community a chance to better understand the full slate of changes.

In 2009, the city was looking at allowing the construction of a transitional housing facility ringed by affordable housing apartments on the site of a half-built senior condo development near Margarita Road and Temecula Parkway that had been abandoned because of the recession.

That plan was opposed by a coalition of residents -- dismissed by proponents of the idea as the "Loud Minority" -- who ended up causing the nonprofit that was pitching the transitional housing part of the development to back out. The city eventually approved a development that will include a mix of affordable and market rate apartments on that site.

Kelley, a member of that coalition, urged the council this week to proceed with caution, saying that the release of prisoners due to overcrowding in state prisons could lead to supportive housing facilities filling up with felons and not senior citizens or low-income folks.

"Who knows what future years will hold?" he asked.

Ahead of those comments by the public, City Attorney Peter Thorson and Patrick Richardson, director of development services, presented an overview of the legal requirements imposed on the city by the state and the changes that were made to the ordinance that had been presented in March.

The new version, Richardson said, hews closely to state law, not the requests made by the Department of Housing and Community Development, setting the stage for a showdown with the department later this year.

The way he described the negotiations, the state's housing officials make a number of requests of cities when it reviews their housing elements, the "blueprints" that spell out how a city will allow for all sorts of different housing types.

"They basically push the envelope," he said.

Those negotiations are scheduled to start back up again this year and Richardson said the state likely will try, once again, to get the city to make changes to its laws.

"We will basically have to say, through our community process, that was not the wishes of the council or the community. Our housing element complies with state law and we're asking that you certify that. We feel confident they'll push back, but we'll push back more and get it certified," he said.

After listening to both the speakers and city staff members, the council voted 4-0, with Councilman Jeff Comerchero absent, to approve the ordinance.

"I think we've moved in a positive direction," said Councilman Chuck Washington, talking about the changes made to the first draft.

The changes include tighter requirements for people looking to open a residential care facility, such as an assisted living home for seniors. Facilities that serve seven or more people now will need to be licensed by the state and they will need to secure a conditional use permit if they want to open anywhere other than a high-density area, defined as 13 to 20 units per acre.

In the first draft, the facilities would have been allowed without a permit in medium-density areas, defined as seven to 12 units per acre. Many of the city's housing tracts are considered medium density, which, city officials said, makes the change significant.

Addressing the concerns of residents worried about crime and disease, council members said that problem houses and facilities will be dealt with by the Police Department and code enforcement officers.